An estimated 142,000 millionaires are expected to relocate internationally in 2025 — an historic movement of private wealth and people. The motivations are obvious: rising taxes, tightening compliance, and a search for stability and freedom. According to the latest Henley & Partners Private Wealth Migration Report, it will be the largest single-year wealth migration ever recorded.
And yet, despite this unprecedented shift, many global investor-immigration advisors are still failing to tell clients about the most advantageous permanent residency option in the European Union: Cyprus.
The EU’s best-value permanent residency route
Cyprus permanent residency has always been a strong programme, but it was often overlooked because Cyprus was not part of the Schengen Area. That is no longer a valid argument. The Republic of Cyprus is set to join Schengen in 2026, which means that permanent residents of Cyprus will soon enjoy visa-free movement across the entire Schengen Zone.
With that single change, Cyprus becomes the EU’s most compelling PR route by every measure that matters. It is the lowest-cost programme in Europe, requiring a minimum investment of €300,000 in qualifying property or other assets. It offers lifetime residency, includes the investor’s family, and requires only minimal presence in Cyprus to maintain status.
When Schengen entry becomes official, Cyprus permanent residents will effectively hold an EU travel document that gives them short-stay access across almost all of Europe — at a fraction of the cost of the Greek or Spanish programmes, and without the ongoing compliance burden seen elsewhere.
Why most advisors are not mentioning Cyprus PR
The truth is simple and uncomfortable. These PR programmes across Europe are built around property purchases. In Greece — and until recently in Portugal — international agents and “advisors” make most of their money not from professional fees, but from developer commissions. They have long-standing cooperation agreements that pay them generous, often hidden, referral fees for each property sold under the programme.
Because Cyprus was not in Schengen, most of those same firms never invested in building partnerships with Cypriot developers. They had no reason to — clients wanted Schengen access, and Cyprus didn’t have it.
Now that Cyprus is set to join Schengen, those same advisors find themselves unprepared. They have no developer links, no commission pipeline, and no infrastructure to profit from the Cyprus PR programme. Instead of adapting, they are choosing silence. They steer clients toward programmes they can still monetise, even when Cyprus would clearly serve the client’s interests better.
That is not a business decision; it is a betrayal of trust. Advisors are withholding a superior, lower-cost, and legally robust option because they cannot personally monetise it. That is self-interest at its worst, and clients are paying the price.
Cyprus combines affordability, stability, and the EU’s best tax regime
Beyond the low entry cost and Schengen advantage, Cyprus offers something no other EU PR programme can match: access to the EU’s most attractive personal income tax regime through the non-dom system.
A Cyprus tax resident who is not domiciled in the country enjoys a comprehensive set of exemptions. Worldwide dividends, interest, and rental income are exempt from the Special Defence Contribution. There is no wealth, inheritance, or gift tax. Capital gains tax applies only to Cyprus immovable property. Foreign pension income is taxed at a flat 5% after an exemption, and employment income above €100,000 may qualify for a 50% income tax reduction for up to ten years.
Individuals can also choose to qualify for tax residence under the flexible 60-day rule, provided they meet basic criteria. It is a straightforward, durable system designed for internationally mobile individuals who value legal clarity and tax efficiency — not temporary tax holidays that vanish with political change.
Portugal’s NHR is gone — the landscape has shifted
Portugal’s Non-Habitual Resident regime, which once offered similar benefits, was closed to new entrants from 1 January 2024. Its replacement has limited scope and excludes many of the exemptions that made Portugal competitive. Combined with the end of Portugal’s real estate-based Golden Visa in 2023, Cyprus now stands alone as the most accessible and tax-efficient permanent residency option in the EU.
The problem runs deeper than bad advice
The issue does not stop with the advisors themselves. Many of the same global service providers who refuse to promote Cyprus PR are also the ones financing or contributing to the professional publications that dominate the investor-immigration industry. Those outlets shape perception — and because they depend on the same advertisers and contributors, they rarely, if ever, feature the Cyprus programme at all.
The result is a distorted narrative. Prospective investors reading so-called “industry” analysis are presented with incomplete information, and Cyprus — the EU’s most cost-effective permanent residency route and the jurisdiction with the best tax regime — is often missing from the comparison charts entirely.
This is why discerning clients must now do their own research. The truth is available, but it is buried beneath commercial bias. Cyprus is not being ignored because it is weak — it is being ignored because it threatens established revenue streams.
For anyone seeking EU permanent residency, the facts are beyond dispute: Cyprus offers the lowest cost of entry, the most durable structure, the most flexible tax regime, and imminent Schengen access. If your advisor or your “industry publication” isn’t telling you that, it’s not an oversight — it’s deliberate.
Cyprus is the EU’s smartest permanent residency choice. The only question left is whether clients will see through the noise fast enough to act on it.
To explore how Cyprus can work, contact Savva & Associates for a confidential consultation. Our team will review your situation and design a tailored strategy.
Please get in touch with our team at:
| Charles Savva Managing Director BA, MBA, TEP, CA [email protected] +357 22516671 | Mina Pieri Senior Manager FCCA, MBA [email protected] +357 22510207 | Makis Pavlou Account Manager FCCA [email protected] +357 22510257 |